One of the major challenges of today is a steadily increasing use of materials. Indicated by the so called “Earth Overshoot Day” our society currently demands almost two earths for renewable resources – with an increasing tendency each year. However, continued steady economic growth and thus increasing resource consumption is not possible in the long term - the planet's natural resources will be exhausted at some point. In order to ensure a good standard of living for future generations, a sustainable transformation of our society from a linear to a circular economy (CEco) is necessary.
So far, this has only been achieved in part - in my view, the missing piece of the puzzle for a complete and sustainable transformation is Analytical Chemistry. In addition to instrumental analytical methods for the quality control of "new" raw materials, which are being circulated, Analytical Chemistry also provides quality control and reference materials that are urgently needed for the transformation of our economy.
My research focuses on the development of elemental analytical methods to support the transformation of our society towards a CEco. Thus, in my presentation, I will introduce the focus of my research group and use the example of per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFAS) - one of the emerging contaminants - to highlight the performance of elemental analytical methods in relation to the identification of "novel entities". The knowledge gained will flow into the development of "safe and sustainable by design" products/materials in the future. This will reduce the release of pollutants into the environment and ensure CEco-compliant products/materials.
PFASs are a group of several million individual compounds. Many PFASs are extremely persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. The analysis of PFASs is challenging because of their various chemical and physical properties as well as the high number of compounds. Hence, complementary analytical strategies are needed combining target analysis as well as sum parameter approaches. Within my research group we are developing high resolution-continuum source-graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry based menthods (HR-CS-GFMAS [1, 2]) for PFAS sum parameter analysis. During my presentation I will present my current work on PFAS sum parameter analysis in the fields of environmental and material analysis.
1. Gehrenkemper L, Simon F, et al. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2021;413(1):103-15.
2. Simon F, Gehrenkemper L, et al. Chemosphere. 2022;295:133922.